Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $62.00 price target on the natural resource company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $49.50. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 25.10% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bernstein Bank raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $49.56 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $50.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.70. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company has a market cap of $71.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.86, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total value of $4,162,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total value of $4,162,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Tompkins Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% during the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 64,053 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,012,000 after buying an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,083 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,885,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.3% during the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,243 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% during the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 794 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.